I joked with a friend that today’s blog post would be short and sweet: “Sunday I spent all day in Program A. The end.” While that’s an accurate summary, though, it’s neither interesting to read nor anywhere near complete.

Because of the timing of our Tin Litter photo with Paul McGann on Saturday, we’d had to miss the Billie Piper interview panel. So around 9:30, I went down to see if I could get in to the repeat panel that started at 10. There’s no reason I should have expected anything else, but I was still slightly bemused to come across a huge line snaking around outside the ballroom and onto the patio. When I got in line, we were already up the ramp toward the driveway; by the time the line began to move, there were probably at least half as many people behind me as in front of me.

Seeing Billie was lovely. She didn’t take herself too seriously, told some fun stories, and just generally gave us all a sense of her real personality. Similarly, Arthur Darvill, whose panel followed, came across as a very real and approachable person, even if the conversation went off the rails pretty early on.

In the long tradition of poaching better seats as the ballroom clears, I’d moved up to the fourth row by the time the day’s third panel began. This one, called “Variations on a Theme,” was an interview with composer Dominic Glynn, who is responsible for the theme music for Season 23 (Trial of a Time Lord) and the incidental music for several Sixth and Seventh Doctor adventures. The highlight of the panel was the last few minutes, when he performed a live remix of the theme tune, never before performed, and created especially for Gallifrey One. I only wish I could have seen it from the stage side, to watch the screen of his Mac as he mixed.

Next came another block of actor interviews. By this time it was already 1:00, and my stomach was beginning to complain. But Gally being what it is, I was able to get the random strangers sitting next to me to agree to watch my things and save my seat while I dashed up to my room to grab my lunch in exchange for doing the same for them. So I munched away while I listened to the end of the interview with Annette Badland (who played Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, aka Margaret, in Series One). I think I appreciated it more than I would normally have done, as the Ladies and I had just finished watching Boom Town on Tuesday (Nu-View pending).

When moderator Gary Russell introduced the next guests, he dubbed it the “box of frogs” panel (as in, “crazy as a…”), and indeed Katy Manning and Nicola Bryant are a bit on the kooky side. Katy is such a ball of energy that one would have to struggle actively to maintain a bad mood when she’s around. She’s unrelentingly positive. Nicola, too, has a great way with an anecdote. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she has a musical talent, and is a songwriter. She has teamed up with Daphne Ashbrook (who then joined the panel as a surprise guest) to put a couple of those songs out on CD, with Daphne singing. I’m incredibly curious, and even had the opportunity to buy a copy when I got Nicola’s autograph earlier in the weekend, but one has to draw a budgetary line somewhere.

I ducked out again briefly to get some Internet (when one only has an iPod, the hotel wifi is a lifeline), so missed the very opening of the Mark and W. Morgan Sheppard panel. However, with no moderator, they clearly opened it up to fan questions from the get-go. From where I sat, it was largely an awkward panel. There were so many SuperWhoLock fangirls in the crowd that most of the questions were for Mark, and poor Morgan sat idle for much of the time. I did, however, appreciate that when someone came up to ask Mark a shipping question that he turned it back on her and made her explain the concept to his dad.

The highlight of the day for me was “The Two Doctors” panel with Colin Baker and Paul McGann. They, too, opened the floor to questions right away. I saw my chance, and ended up about fifth in line with a question that had been percolating in my mind for months on end. I was gratified that not only the guest themselves but several other fans seemed to appreciate it.

I asked, “People are in this room because we know you in your role as the Doctor, but I want to know what piece of work you’ve done that you’re proudest of, and—if it’s different—what you wish every fan could see.” After some banter about who had more work/more they were proud of, the first answer came from Paul. He said that an adaptation of Dickens’s “Our Mutual Friend,” in which he played Eugene Wrayburn, was one of his favorites. He also noted that character was the closest to himself of any he’s played.

Colin, for his part, decided he’d really enjoyed the challenge of one particular role in which his character played many others (including Carmen Miranda). As I was at the mic at the time, and fighting to keep from shaking too hard or locking my legs and passing out, I don’t actually recall the exact reference. If someone can help me out (as a tweet did for Paul’s answer), I’d appreciate clarification.

After our Doctors left the stage, it was time for a celebration none of us could have imagined at this time last year. Jamie Frazer and Deborah Watling came on stage for a little bit of interview and then some live commentary on Episode One of The Enemy of the World and Episode Six of The Web of Fear. They seemed touched and gratified at how full the ballroom was for this special panel, and honestly I’m not sure how much was real interest in the episodes (though I imagine it was a great deal) and how much was hunkering in for the end of the con after Colin and Paul. I was definitely one of the former. I loved hearing their stories, especially about Pat Troughton. (Sometimes it’s hard to wrap my brain around him having had three families (simultaneously), but when I see photos of him as a young man I can easily believe it.)

At this point, the con was truly winding down. The last panel of the year was the annual “Year in Review” video, showing the primarily American con-goers how Doctor Who was covered in the media in the UK. There was so much going on in 2013, with the broadcast of the second half of Series Seven, Matt’s announcement that he was leaving, the speculation about and eventual announcement of his replacement, the unveiling of the recovered episodes, the anniversary special itself, and the regeneration that I’m sure it was difficult to decide which clips to include. For the most part I quite enjoyed them.

All that was left then was to say the farewells. The guests who were still present (many had already had to depart for the airport) said their pieces and were roundly applauded. It’s a little odd as an attendee to hear the guest praising us for our participation, so used are we to the appreciation going the other direction, but it’s nice to know that the guests enjoy themselves among us. Obviously, the stars of the Closing Ceremonies—thanked over and over again, and rightly so—were the organizers and staff. Without them, there would never have been one glorious year, let alone twenty-five.

And then it was over.

Sunday night at Gally is always a sort of frantic last hurrah, everyone’s desperate attempt to deny the inevitable. I was able to have some last, lovely conversations with new friends and old (in various states of inebriation), just as I did in the morning on Monday before leaving for the airport. It’s such a bittersweet feeling, leaving this amazing experience behind. All the wonderful stuff is over, and you have to leave your friends, but you know it will all roll around again next year, and the ties one forges at Gallifrey One are not easily severed, especially as you all begin to plot and scheme about what fun you’ll have together next year. And so, for now, there’s only one thing left to say.

Gally is dead; long live Gally!